1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compositions, to coatings and articles made from such compositions, and to methods of making and using such compositions, coatings and articles. In another aspect, the present invention relates to particle compositions comprising at least one of diamond, silicon, nitrides, carbides, steel, carbonitrides, borides, sulphides, chalcogenides, oxides, and silicides, also having present one or more of diamond, silicon, nitrides, carbides, steel, carbonitrides, borides, sulphides, chalcogenides, oxides, and silicides, to coatings and articles made from such compositions, to coatings and articles made from such compositions, and to methods of making and using such compositions, coatings and articles. In even another aspect, the present invention relates to particle compositions comprising overcoated particles comprising at least one of diamond, silicon, nitrides, carbides, steel, carbonitrides, borides, sulphides, chalcogenides, oxides, and suicides, to coatings and coated articles made from such compositions said coatings comprising a nanostructured surface morphology, and to methods of making and using such compositions, coatings and articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coatings are commonly used to impart desirable surface properties and function to a substrate. Some examples of functional types of coatings include protective coatings, wear-resistant coatings, corrosion-resistant coatings, thermal barrier coatings, conductive coatings, friction reducing coatings, cutting and machining coatings, hydrophobic coatings, and anti-bacterial coatings, to name but a few.
Often times, it is desired that a coating have multiple properties and/or functions however, it is not always possible to manufacture a coating from a single material to fulfill all the desired properties. In such cases, two or more materials with desired properties are combined, for example in a composite or in a combination, and the combination used for the final coating. It is often necessary to develop specific methods for applying specific coatings in order to achieve the desired functional integrity of the coating.
Many coatings, for example lubricant coatings, are vital to the function of the substrate onto which they are applied. Lubricants and lubricant coatings are utilized in a wide range of applications all of which generally require reducing friction and reducing wear of parts. One example of an industry requiring high performance lubricants being the cutting, grinding and machining of hard materials. The development of harder materials has created the need for both processing techniques, and tools with a work surface capable of shaping and cutting workpieces made of these hard materials.
Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a man-made material and is the second hardest material next to diamond. Diamond and cBN compacts have been used in the tool industry for machining applications and complement each other in function. Due to the reaction of diamond with iron at high temperatures typically required for cutting processes, diamond cannot be applied effectively to the machining of ferrous alloys. cBN, has outstanding thermal stability and chemical inertness when used for machining ferrous alloys but is conventionally used as polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) compacts which have limitations due to structural rigidity and limitations in the forming methods for PCBN compacts. Thus, the development of innovative tool surface coatings are required.
While numerous lubricants and lubricant coatings are known, conventional and currently available lubricating coatings are layered coatings and have a soft lubricant phase deposited over a hard phase. The soft phase quickly wears out leaving behind the hard layer without lubrication. In addition, the currently available lubricating coatings do not offer temperature adaptability. Thus, the development of new lubricant coatings that are effective over a wide range of operating temperatures and have longer life would be of impact not only in the cutting and machining industry, but numerous others such as, for example, the automotive industry, and the tool industry, to name only a few.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,782, issued Aug. 19, 2003 to Malshe et al, teaches a coating method comprising an electrostatic spray coating (ESC) step and a chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) step. Although widely used in the paint industry, ESC was previously unexplored in the ceramic and metal coating industry. USP '782 teaches a use of the ESC process for deposition of particles of various oxides, nitrides, and other application-specific materials for the machining industry.
In spite of advancements in the prior art, there is a need for compositions, coatings and coated articles having micron, submicron, and nanostructured surface morphology.
There is another need in the art for methods of making nanostructured compositions, coatings and coated articles.
There is even another need in the art for self-lubricating compositions, coatings and coated articles.
There is still another need in the art for methods of making and methods of using self-lubricating compositions, coatings and coated articles.
There is yet another need in the art for nanoparticle compositions, coatings, and articles coated with same.
There is even still another need in the art for methods of making nanosized particle compositions, coatings, and articles coated with same.
These and other needs in the art will become apparent to one of skill in the art upon review of this specification, including the claims and drawings.